Tactics for Surviving the Heating Hold Out

Today was an abolutely beautiful day here in the City of Lakes. It was 14C outisde. I biked to work today. Between my trips to Moncton and Atlanta AND then the tail end of Wilma raining down on us, I haven't been on my bicycle in about 3 weeks. It was truly gorgeous outside. Unfortunately, I didn't have the camera with me to take any photos of the fall foliage. Trust me, it was absolutely stunning this morning with the sun streaming through the red and yellow leaves. I didn't think we were going to get much of a fall show this year, but Mother Nature has decided to amaze us yet again.

Here's just a tiny glimpse of the nice patch of yellow I can see from my back yard.

This weekend was about surviving the cold and getting on the road to finishing some projects. (I finished the hat for Tangled Skeins. It's so cute. I don't have a photo of it b/c it's at the store already.) Let's take at look at how the weekend shaped up here in Dartmouth:

Day: Saturday
Morning temperature inside the house: 11.1C or 52F
Tactic: RUN AWAY!
Saturday afternoon, while Andrew was at work, I swung by Tangled Skeins to see Martha (Hi M!) and ran into Sachiko, a member of the Dartmouth Stitch and Bitch group. Sachiko is hosting Stitch and Bitch at her house on Tuesday night. I was very excited at the prospect of going, as she doesn't live far from me... but was very sad when I realized that I HAVE A HUGE WORK EVENT THAT NIGHT!

I organized the bloody thing. You would think I would remember. Yeesh. It's the big annual student recruiting event. It's actually a fun night and I usually end up feeling like I'm playing matchmake with the students and prospective employers. Last year we wanted something special to jazz up the event so I ordered a CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN. Oh yes, my chocolate addiction is so strong that I would stoop as low as to order a chocolate fountain for a work event and pass it off as a way to treat the students. The fountain was a huge hit. One of my (55+) "bosses" was so impressed with it that I heard through the grapevine he ordered one at his wedding this summer. I like to think that in my own special way, I contributed to the happiness on his wedding day! By the end of the evening last year, I was so wired from all the chocolate that I offered to frolic in the fountain with another one of my "bosses". I didn't mean it the way he took it. Yeesh. He calls me "Chocolate" whenever he calls now. I keep reminding him that we have a policy in place about employee harassment. (It's not serious, don't be alarmed. He used to work in the office with us and is a great guy, even though his favourite word starts with "F" ends in "K" and has an "UH" sound in the middle.)

I'm sorry Sachiko. I can't go the SnB at your place. I'll be frolicking in the fountain. Double yeesh.

When I got home from my LYS, I finished this.

It's a scarf for Andrew (I think). It's the Malabrigo scarf. I love it soooooo much. It's soooooo soft. And, when you lay it out and really look at it, you realizing the colours are pooling in a very strange way!

DO YOU SEE THAT? It almost looks like argyle! Crazy. Just crazy.
As soon as I finished it, I wrapped it around my neck. Brrrrrrrrr...
Saturday evening temperature: 12.7C or 55F


Day: Sunday
Morning temperature inside the house: 11.1C or 52F
Tactic: Confuse the enemy, try different means of avoiding him: Keep moving, bundle up or go outside

On Sunday, while Andrew was caulking the windows with the nasty (and probably toxic) draft stopper stuff, I blocked my niece's Molly Bolero.
Here it is, in all its glory.

I don't have any blocking pins, so I just use regular pins. Maybe Santa will bring me some pins for Christmas. That green blob in the upper left hand corner of the photo is the Airy Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. While I love that colour green, it makes me look dead when placed so close to my face. (Oh, Halloween costume scarf, perhaps), I think it might look better on someone else.

Andrew had to go to work for a while in the afternoon, so I ran around the house for a while, doing laundry, and staying warm. The smell of the caulking was very strong, so we had both the front door and the back door open to air out the house. Eventually I realized it was a beautiful day, so I sat on the front step IN THE SUN and worked on my Cabled Cankle socks. When the shadows started to fall, I went back inside. Andrew arrived home with a chick flick (Awwwww, so sweet) and we hunkered down under blankets to watch. I kept on knitting. AND FINISHED MY SOCKS!

Drumroll, please!

Aren't they lovely? As soon as the ends we woven in, I pulled them on and danced my own interpretation of the Highland Fling around the living room. Andrew was in awe of not only my dancing abilities, but of the sight of these beautiful socks. They are so warm! It's true! Hand knit socks ARE the best!

I was so happy about the socks that I wore them to work today. I ran around lifting my pantlegs to show them to my coworkers, who now know for sure that I am crazier than three bags of hammers (don't blame me, my mother used to say something like that). Yes, Moe, I'll be wearing them at SnB on Wednesday.

Day: Monday
Morning Temperature inside the house: 12. 7C 55F
Temperature outside the house as told to me by Jeff Hutchison on Canada AM: 14F
Tactic: As I did not believe Jeff, I bundled up to bike to work.

This is what I put on this morning:
Fleece pants over stretchy pants and biking shorts.
Warm long sleeve shirt, fleece jacket, biking jacket.
Cabled neck thingy and hat.
Mitts in hand.

Thus prepared I stepped out back door and IMMEDIATELY STARTED SWEATING! Looks like the heating hold out is going to last past November 1. It's 15.5C or 60F in here right now. I'm going to switch off the heating pad and have a slice of the bread that just came out of the oven.

What? Baking is not cheating. We didn't have any bread in the house.